Steve Harrington x OC!Henderson
Book 1
Season 1
Slow Burn
Riley Henderson just wants to finish high school and live a normal life. But when her younger brothers friend, Will Byers, goes missing one night. Everything changes. And lets just say that n...
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Jonathan passes Riley a box from his trunk and she grunts at the weight, "Jesus, could've let me know it was gonna be this heavy, Byers." Riley peers down inside and with the light of his car she manages to spot a can of gasoline, a couple of boxes of nails and bullets, and a bear trap.
Riley makes her way inside after Jonathan and Nancy, kicking the door shut behind her and Jonathan disappears into the backyard. Nancy grabs the box of ammo and pulls out a gun from the waistband of her jeans; Riley's eyes widen at the sight of her wielding a weapon.
"Have you just had that thing on you this entire time?"
"It wasn't loaded!" Nancy shoots back as she opens the cylinder and starts to slide the bullets into the chamber. Riley tosses Jonathan the baseball bat after he returns with a hammer, and he gestures for her to hand him the nails.
As he begins to slam them through, Riley's gaze catches onto a lead pipe that got shuffled to the side. It's fairly sturdy in her grasp - not entirely uncomfortable to hold either. A spool of wire resides at the bottom of the box and she snatches that too.
Riley's brain hatches an idea at the sight of the scissors sitting on the kitchen counter, and she goes into the bathroom knowing that Joyce keeps another pair in there.
The table shakes as she throws her loot onto it and she collects the first pair of scissors, as well as the roll of duct tape in the drawer. Riley uses the wire to strap the scissors to either side on the curve of the pipe and reinforce the bond with the tape. Realizing it's not quite finished yet, she quickly unzips her backpack and snatches the medical gauze to add spots for better grip.
The weapon spins easily in Riley's fingers and a slight smirk grows on her lips at the idea of the kids seeing her now; monster hunter.
"Hey, gimme a hand with these," Nancy calls to Riley as she motions towards the coffee table littered in the bulbs of Christmas lights. Riley's hands work diligently to screw in each one a pocketful at a time, and the three teens finish the job in no time.
After the particularly nerve-wracking experience of helping Jonathan set the bear trap, they regroup in the living room.
"So, you're saying that blood draws this thing?" Riley asks based on the information they've managed to gather.
"That's just our theory, we're still not absolutely sure," Nancy answers, causing Riley to press a hand to her forehead in frustration, "You don't even know if this is gonna work?"
"Barb cut her hand before she disappeared, and there was an injured deer in the forest last night," Jonathan comments as he passes a knife to Nancy, "It's been there both times."
"I guess if there's nothing else to go on..." Riley sighs and he extends the hilt of another blade to her. Her eyes flick between his hand and his expression before chuckling slightly, "You can't be serious."
